23She stepped to one side and opened a door into a sun-drenched room. The nine-by-twelve-foot space was on the front corner of the building and a French door overlooked Universytecka Street. Morning light spilled over a balcony railing and onto the polished hardwood floor. The bright reflection forced me to glance away. Looking out the tall window in the other exterior wall, I spotted the statue of the Airman, arm raised in confident encouragement.
I turned back to the room. Book cases covered the third wall, a computer desk and monitor centered before them. Sunlight burnished every surface and the air smelled of paste wax. The carefully tended space was as impersonal as a reception area in a law office. Part of Monika’s careful scene-setting, the room told me nothing of her passions.
I
